WEEKLY RAIL REVIEW

FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, Feb. 16, 2007

BY: DAVE MEARS

(Posted by permission)

THE WEEK’S TOP RAIL AND TRANSIT NEWS (in chronological order):

(MON) A strong winter storm moved into the central and then the eastern U.S., bringing high winds, heavy snow, sleet, and icing, and affecting passenger and freight rail operations in these regions. On Tuesday, Amtrak canceled several passenger trains out of Chicago, IL and St. Louis, MO, Chicago commuter rail operator Metra reported numerous delays on several of its lines, and Norfolk Southern said that traffic moving over its midwestern lines “may incur significant delays.” On Wednesday, Amtrak canceled several trains on its Keystone Corridor in Pennsylvania and its Empire Corridor in New York State. On Thursday and Friday, Amtrak canceled several trains operating north, south and west out of Albany, NY, with NARP reporting that several of the 700-series dual-mode locomotives used on these trains had been rendered inoperable from their intake of fine snow particles. Most Amtrak services returned to normal operation by the weekend. (ffd: Amtrak, NARP, NS Corp., Trains)

(TUE) Kansas City Southern announced that it is will invest $80 million in the development of the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas. A KCS spokesman said that the railroad’s investment involves building a new intermodal terminal on nearby Palmas Island. A KCS spokesman said that the $80 million is part of an overall investment of $380 million this year into Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s operations in seven Mexican states. (ffd: Railway Age)

(TUE) Salt Lake City, UT announced that it had reached agreement with Union Pacific to deactivate its 900 South rail line in the city. UP has increased traffic on that line notably since 2001, as a result of a bottleneck at its Grant Tower. A city spokesman said that a total of $50 million in combined funding will be spent to improve lines via Grant Tower, after which the 900 line will be transferred to the city and then possibly converted to trail use. (ffd: Salt Lake Tribune)

(TUE) The Wall Street Journal reported that General Electric, while running a marketing campaign promoting itself as environmentally friendly, had pushed to weaken smog controls for locomotives in rules about to be proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The newspaper reported that GE told EPA that the catalytic converters used to meet EPA emissions reductions imposed earlier on trucks and off-road construction equipment have “fundamental limitations” that make their durability on locomotives unlikely. In response, a GE spokesman said that it and the EPA “are having routine technical discussions on how to achieve significant and sustainable emission reductions as part of an upcoming notice of proposed rulemaking” and that GE “strongly supports this effort and agrees with the technical feasibility of nearly all of the points that will make up [the new rules.]” The spokesman added that the newspaper “has mischaracterized this as GE fighting to weaken smog controls.” (ffd: Railway Age, Wall Street Journal, wire services)

(WED) A rail safety reauthorization bill was introduced in Congress. The proposed legislation includes empowering the Federal Railroad Administration to regulate railroad worker hours of service. FRA Chief Administrator Joe Boardman said that the proposal would replace railroad hours-of-service laws, first enacted in 1907, with comprehensive, scientifically-based regulations to be further developed by the FRA Railroad Safety Advisory Committee. Also on Wednesday, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker publicly endorsed giving FRA statutory authority to regulate hours of service. (ffd: NTSB, RT&S)

(WED) Little Rock, AR opened a short extension of its River Rail streetcar line. The new segment extends the line to serve the Bill Clinton Presidential Library, making it the only presidential library directly served by rail transit. (ffd: NARP)

(THU) President George W. Bush signed a continuing resolution that continues to fund most federal programs for Fiscal Year 2007 at FY2006 levels. Including in the funding is $1.3 billion in federal subsidies for Amtrak, approximately $300 million below its basic request and approximately $600 million below its full request for FY2007. (ffd: Progressive Railroading)

(THU) The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the Transportation Services Index (TSI) for 2006 decreased 0.4 percent compared with the previous year. A USDOT spokesman said that this was the index’s first annual decline since 2001. The TSI, calculated by USDOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, is a measure of month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by for-hire transportation industries, including rail, air, truck, inland waterways, pipelines and local transit. (ffd: USDOT)

(THU) Philadelphia, PA transit and commuter rail operator SEPTA projected a $150 million budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2008. A SEPTA spokesman said that it hopes that the deficit can be overcome through a dedicated funding source, which SEPTA and other PA transit agencies have not heretofore had. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has recently proposed a 6.17 percent oil company gross profits tax that would be dedicated to state transit agencies. (ffd: Progressive Railroading)

(THU) France’s TGV high-speed passenger train broke its own speed record. A spokesman for France’s national railway system said that the train achieved a new record of 334 mph during a test run on a stretch of the line between Paris and Strasbourg. The average operating speed for the TGV is 186 mph. (ffd: Agence France-Presse)

(FRI) The strike by the United Transportation Union against Canadian National’s Canadian operations entered its second week. A CN spokesman said that it is attempting to continue “near-normal” train service by having management personnel fill in for striking UTU workers. CN has offered conductor salary increases of 3 percent a year over three years, while the UTU has requested 4.5 percent in each of the first two years and a 4 percent wage hike in the third year; CN has said that UTU’s demands are “out of line” with other annual private sector wage settlements, which in Canada have lately averaged about 2.1 percent. (ffd: CN Corp., wire services)

(FRI) The Association of American Railroads said that railroads would defend their right to keep contractor employees who have had recent felony convictions away from railroad property, but will adopt a more “robust and transparent” appeals process for those who believe they have been wrongly excluded from working on railroad property. In a statement, an AAR spokesman said that, for more than a decade, railroads have required background checks of their employees, and that this requirement has been extended to contractor employees who have access to the same property. The spokesman added that railroads are formulating new policies that will make it easier for contractors with recent felony convictions to appeal any decision that prohibits them from working on railroad property. (ffd: AAR)

(FRI) CSX began the signal system cut-in of the new rail bridge across Quantico Creek in Quantico, VA. The new bridge effectively double tracks the last remaining section of single track on CSX’s former Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac main line, which has been a frequent bottleneck. A CSX spokesman said that, during the cut-in, which was expected to last about a week, several Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express passenger trains operating on the line would be combined or canceled. (ffd: NARP)

(FRI) Chicago commuter rail operator Metra announced that it would phase out its remaining snack bar cars over the next two years. The cars, serving alcoholic beverages, snacks and other refreshments, are currently operated only on Metra’s Milwaukee North line to Fox Lake, its Milwaukee West line to Elgin and its Rock Island line to Joliet. “We want to utilize the full capacity of every car,” said a Metra spokesman, “and its [generates] only minimal revenue that isn’t worth taking up the additional seating.” (ffd: Chicago Sun-Times)

STATS – TRAFFIC:

(NOTE: Canadian traffic includes that of the U.S. operations of Canadian-headquartered railroads.)

(THU) For the week ending February 10, 2007, U.S. rail volume grand totaled 31.7 billion ton-miles, down 4.2 percent from the comparable week last year. U.S. carload rail traffic was down 5.5 percent, down 11.0 percent in the East (where there were notable winter storms) and down 1.3 percent in the West. Notable traffic increases included petroleum products up 15.5 percent and nonmetallic minerals up 7.4 percent; notable traffic decreases included lumber and wood products down 24.2 percent, stone, clay and glass products down 17.2 percent, and grain down 15.2 percent. Also for the week, U.S. intermodal rail traffic was up 1.1 percent, Canadian carload rail traffic was down 0.8 percent, Canadian intermodal rail traffic was up 4.0 percent, Mexico’s Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s carload rail traffic was down 1.8 percent, and KCSM’s intermodal rail traffic was up 15.3 percent.

For the period January 1 through February 10, 2007, U.S. rail volume grand totaled 189.3 billion ton-miles, down 5.4 percent from the comparable period last year. Also for this period, U.S. carload rail traffic was down 6.5 percent, U.S. intermodal rail traffic was down 1.2 percent, Canadian carload rail traffic was down 3.4 percent, Canadian intermodal rail traffic was up 0.3 percent, KCSM’s carload rail traffic was down 11.0 percent, and KCSM’s intermodal rail traffic was up 10.3 percent. (ffd: AAR)

MORE STATS – OPERATING PERFORMANCE:

(NOTE: Effective October 1, 2005, railroads that had been furnished operating performance statistics to the Association of American Railroads began applying a new standardized definitional framework, aimed at eliminating differences in calculation methodology. Concurrent with but unrelated to these changes, Canadian National elected to no longer furnish these statistics.)

(WED) For the week ending February 9, 2007 and versus the comparable week last year, average total cars on line was as follows: BNSF, 226,391 cars versus 220,342 cars; Canadian Pacific, 80,160 cars versus 79,848 cars; CSX, 224,300 cars versus 225,047 cars; Kansas City Southern, 29,751 cars versus 28,762 cars; Norfolk Southern, 205,609 cars versus 205,700 cars; and Union Pacific 309,515 cars versus 328,507 cars.

Also for the week ending February 9, 2007 and versus the comparable week last year, average train speed was as follows: BNSF, 23.3 mph versus 22.1 mph; Canadian Pacific Railway, 24.0 mph versus 25.5 mph; CSX, 20.0 mph versus 19.9 mph; Kansas City Southern, 22.8 mph versus 20.5 mph; Norfolk Southern, 19.9 mph versus 21.1 mph; and Union Pacific, 21.9 mph versus 20.7 mph.

Finally for the week ending February 9, 2007 and versus the comparable week last year, average terminal dwell time was as follows: BNSF, 25.8 hrs versus 24.6 hrs; Canadian Pacific Railway, 24.1 hrs versus 21.1 hrs; CSX, 26.1 hrs versus 26.5 hrs; Kansas City Southern, 26.0 hrs versus 28.1 hrs; Norfolk Southern, 22.7 hrs versus 24.6 hrs; and Union Pacific, 25.5 hrs versus 28.6 hrs. (ffd: AAR)

STILL MORE STATS – 4^TH QTR AND FULL YEAR 2006 RESULTS:

(WED) For the fourth quarter of 2006, shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming reported net income of $14.3 million, compared with $10.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Revenues were $124 million, compared with $103.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. G&W’s operating ratio was 85.5 percent, compared with 84.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005. In reporting fourth quarter results, a G&W spokesman noted the impact of “gains on the sale of assets totaling $3.2 million, noncash expense related to the reassessment of dates granted in prior years of $1.2 million, and $0.9 million for emergency bridge repair work in Canada.”

For the full year 2006, G&W’s net income totaled $134 million, compared with 2005’s total of $50.1 million. Revenues totaled $478.8 million, compared with 2005’s total of $385.4 million. (ffd: G&W Corp.)

EXPANSIONS, CONTRACTIONS AND ALIKE:

(MON) Pennsylvania’s Southern Tier Extension Railroad Authority voted to purchase the line running from the Cattaraugus-Wyoming County line to the New York-Pennsylvania border from Norfolk Southern Railway. The line is then to be leased to and operated by the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. (ffd: Olean Times-Herald)

(TUE) Williams Rail Service filed to acquire and operate two track segments, each less than a mile in length, in Monroe, NC and Blacksburg, SC (ffd: STB)

(WED) Ashland Railroad filed to lease, from Grems-Kirk Railway, and operate approximately 2 miles of line in Freehold, NJ. (ffd: STB)

(THU) Canadian National/Illinois Central granted overhead trackage rights to BNSF between 1) its connection with BNSF in Centralia, IL and its connection with BNSF in Memphis, TN, 2) Maxon, KY and Memphis, TN, and 3) its connection with the Paducah & Louisville Railway in Chiles Jct., KY and its connection with BNSF in Memphis, TN, altogether totaling 437 miles of line. (ffd: STB)

(THU) Canadian National/Grand Trunk Western granted overhead trackage rights to BNSF over approximately 3 miles of its Elsdon Subdivision. The purpose of the trackage rights is to move specific traffic between Corwith, IL and Railport, IL. (ffd: STB)

(FRI) Norfolk Southern granted temporary overhead trackage rights to the Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad between Lock Haven, PA and Driftwood, PA, a distance of approximately 55 miles. The purpose of the temporary trackage rights is to allow N&BE adequate bridge train service for temporary, seasonal traffic originating on its line for delivery to an offline destination. (ffd: STB)

APPOINTMENTS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND MILESTONES:

(SUN) Scott Hulstrom passed away at Age 48. Mr. Hulstrom was president of RailAmerica’s Central Business Unit. (ffd: RailAmerica Corp.)

(TUE) Kansas City Southern Railway appointed Douglas Banks AVP-Facilities & Heritage Operations for U.S. and Mexico. Mr. Banks was most recently the railroad’s General Director-Joint Facilities & Contracts. KCSR also appointed J.A. “Al” Rawls AVP-Police & Freight Claims Prevention. Mr. Rawls was most recently the railroad’s chief of police. (ffd: KCSR Corp.)

(FRI) Joe Folk announced his intention to retire from Norfolk Southern effective February 28. Dr. Folk began his railroad career as an executive for Penn Central in 1972, transitioning to Conrail in 1976 and to NS in 1999. Dr. Folk is especially noted for his work developing modern railroad costing processes.

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Weekly Rail Review is edited from public news sources and published weekly to those working in, or interested in, rail and transit. Send an e-mail to weeklyrailreview@aol.com <mailto:weeklyrailreview@aol.com> to receive it, with my compliments.

BE SAFE AND PROSPER,

Dave Mears

Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA

Posted: 02/21/07